After years of traditional treatment including some harsh medications and special soaps and lotions claiming they would heal the severe eczema on my hands and arms, I gave up wearing rings, bracelets, and watches. It wasn't that I was allergic to the metals, simply the friction from anything on my hands and wrists would cause a flare up. When I worked in the schools, my hands would bleed all winter long from frequent hand washing.
Earlier this fall, I was talking to my oldest son on Facetime and he asked me what was all over my arm. It was so red and inflamed all the way to my elbow that he thought we had been painting.
And then I accidentally fixed it.
It was such an accident I don't even have a before picture.
After two months...just two months...of using lard based soaps like the ones we sell my eczema was gone. There is one spot the skin is a little rough still, but the rest of it you can't even tell where it was. It is completely gone.
I Can Wear My Wedding Ring Again
Watches, bracelets, rings... I can wear them all. Not due to some amazing weight loss formula or fancy skin care products, but because of one simple change I didn't expect to make the difference it did.
Lard based soaps. Now, the funny part of the story is that being 20+ weeks pregnant I can't wear my actual wedding band but I have been able to wear a silicone band in the meantime and I can't wait to put my actual band on again soon!
Why I Believe Lard Based Soaps Cured My Eczema
Since I had no expectation, after so many years, that this particular soap change would be the difference I've had to spend quite a bit of time thinking about why it did. I had tried homemade soaps before. I always wanted to believe the popular goat's milk soaps I could buy at the farmer's market would make a difference but they didn't (at least not for the eczema- I remain a fan of non lard based homemade soaps).
I'm guessing a bit but here are a few of the things I think made the difference.
Our lard is from pasture based hogs fed a variety of grains, grasses, and other plant products. They eat bugs and whatever else they find (they will eat frogs, snakes, etc if they catch them- it is both gross and comical). They are healthy animals. Their lard is white and smooth and very moisturizing.
We make most of our soaps with nothing but lard, lye (necessary for making soap), and water. When we do use other additives they are natural items like honey, coconut oil, and olive oil. Our colorants are a small amount of mica powder and we do not use fragrances at all. We keep it simple and angry skin likes simple.
Lard is naturally not bubbly. There is a technical term for that, but lard based soaps do not have a lot of lather which I think helped my hands not be more aggravated by the mere action of washing. Once they were cured, our other handmade soaps (even colored) were also fine, but I did not test that until after things were all cleared up with the plain white simplicity bar. Since I am a test case of one, I really don't know what claims I can or can't make about how likely this is to help you or your child struggling with skin issues, but I can say I had given up on ever having pain and itch free hands. In fact, in the spirit of honesty we also switched to raw milk about a year ago which is also known to help with eczema and are continually switching to incorporate almost exclusively natural fibers such as wool and cotton. That said, I had seriously tried it all. Herbal, chemical, medical...I'd done it. But, a $5 bar of soap on the side of the sink apparently fixed it. I couldn't be more excited to wear my wedding ring.
What would you do if you had no more eczema to contend with?
MARCH 2022 WEBSITE SPECIAL: 10% off all soaps with code RUBADUB
Comments